Generally, a user of an email or instant-message system often receives requests and related messages that require a response or an action (e.g., requests to become a connection on a job networking site, bill payment reminders, etc.). Sometimes, such messages also come to be repeated, e.g., whether as reminders (generated automatically or by the sender), because of an error, because of more than one person sending the same or a similar message, or in view of dissemination to more than one device or system that a recipient might access.
A user might respond to a message or request using one or more devices, e.g., a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone, without even having read all of the pending alerts that sit in his or her inbox. Indeed, an alert may have actually been sent to two or more different devices. For example, a user may have accepted an invitation to become a connection on a job networking site, but there may still be unread emails sent on an assumption that a related request is still pending. Thus, even though in reality the request may have been acted upon, such unread emails might not actually require a user's attention. Because such clutter can potentially obscure or bury other messages or requests, it often becomes very difficult for a user to keep track of messages or requests that might actually prove to be important.